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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 21st,
2009 - Soldier Convicted of Killing Iraqi Detainees News article from Stars and
Stripes |
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Soldier
Convicted of Killing Iraqi Detainees, Sentenced to Life in Prison By Seth Robson Stars and Stripes February 21, 2009 Vilseck, Germany - An Army
medic was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole
following his conviction Friday afternoon of premeditated murder and
conspiracy to commit premeditated murder in the deaths of four Iraqi detainees
in March 2007. The panel of nine officers
and noncommissioned officers deliberated for roughly five hours Friday before
returning their verdict against Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 26. Leahy and a large group of
family members in attendance at the trial reacted calmly as the verdict was
read. Outside the courtroom afterward, he stood with a group of soldiers who
were consoling him. Leahy’s attorney, Frank
Spinner, said the case will automatically be sent to the military's appeals
court in Washington, D.C. Leahy can also appeal to the
trial's convening authority, Brig. Gen. David Hogg, for clemency. If
successful, Leahy's sentence could be reduced, Spinner said. For the moment, Leahy will
be imprisoned at the Army's detention facility in Mannheim, Germany. There is
a strong possibility that Leahy will be asked to testify at the
courts-martial of several soldier who are yet to be tried in the incident,
Spinner said. In closing arguments Friday
morning, the defense said the prosecution’s case was built on unreliable
testimony from inconsistent witnesses. The prosecution countered with Leahy’s
confession to Army investigators. Leahy had pleaded not guilty
to the charges, which related to incidents in January and March 2007
involving Leahy and several other members of his unit at the time - Company
A, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment. He was convicted for his
role in the March 2007 incident, of shooting two of four Iraqi detainees who
were bound, blindfolded and killed execution-style beside a Baghdad canal. He was acquitted of a charge
of obstructing justice and accessory after the fact for the January 2007
incident, in which it was alleged Leahy helped carry a wounded detainee out
of a Bradley fighting vehicle before the detainee was shot by then-Company A
1st Sgt. John Hatley. Spinner tried to argue that
the testimony of government witnesses was unreliable. Many witnesses were fellow
Company A members who played lesser roles in the killings and testified only
after being granted immunity, he said. Spinner drew attention to
inconsistent statements made by some of the witnesses and suggested that
their memories of events appeared to have changed over time. Furthermore, the
prosecution’s case was based almost entirely on witness testimony, he said. Forensic
evidence, such as bodies or even records of the identities of the alleged
victims, was lacking. Spinner also emphasized
Leahy’s state of mind at the time of the canal killings. He suggested that
his client was under so much stress and so sleep-deprived that he did not
know what he was doing at the time. During his closing argument,
Army prosecutor Capt. Derrick Grace acknowledged that Company A’s run was
“hard and long” in Iraq, but that was not an excuse not to follow rules of
engagement or to mistreat detainees. “The defense cannot throw up
their hands and say they (the Company A soldiers) were protecting themselves
from future harm. How many of the people they killed were insurgents? One?
Two? Three? Four? Possibly but we don’t know and they (the Company A
soldiers) don’t know. They made the decision to execute four people. They
made that decision with less knowledge of their guilt than we have today of
the accused’s guilt,” he said. Grace conceded that many of
the prosecution witnesses testified under immunity deals, but pointed out
that their evidence merely corroborated Leahy’s confession to the canal
killings during a video-taped Criminal Investigation Command interrogation. “If you buy the defense
argument you are saying there is no such thing as premeditated murder in a
time of war - that the U.S. does not hold itself to the same standard it
expects of others,” he said. External link: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60855 Army medic guilty in 4 Iraqi
deaths Downers Grove native Sgt. Michael Leahy was tried in military court
for role in 2007 slaying of prisoners By Joel Hood Chicago Tribune February 21, 2009 Hazel Leahy said she was
stunned Friday when a military jury in Germany found her grandson, a U.S.
Army medic from Downers Grove, guilty of murder. Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr.,
27, faces life in prison and dishonorable discharge for taking part in the
execution-style slayings of four Iraqi prisoners in 2007. "This is
devastating," Leahy, 80, said from her West Chicago home, hours after
the verdict came back. "I haven't stopped crying all day. I've been
telling everybody all day the news. It makes me feel better to talk about
it." Leahy was one of four
soldiers accused of transporting the Iraqi detainees, bound and blindfolded,
to a remote area outside the Baghdad base camp and shooting them in the back
of their heads, then dumping their bodies into a canal. Leahy was acquitted
of murder in a separate incident involving the death of another Iraqi in January
2007. While Leahy's parents were
at the two-day trial in Vilseck, Germany, his grandmother shared photos of
her grandson - dressed in his military uniform and as a 7-year-old. She said
he was married with no children. "He had big dreams, and
that's why he joined the Army," she said. Leahy, who played baseball
and football at Downers Grove South High School before graduating in 1999,
attended some college before joining the Army in 2003, Hazel Leahy said. By that time,
"Mickey" Leahy had become interested in medicine and thought the
military could position him toward a career as a physician's assistant, she
said. Leahy, a health-care
specialist, completed two tours of duty in Iraq between 2003 and 2007, Army
spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said. In that time, he'd advanced
to the rank of sergeant and was awarded several medals, including the Purple
Heart and a Bronze Star, and earned other marks for valor and good conduct,
Garver said. Hazel Leahy said her grandson's
Purple Heart was awarded after he was shot in the neck. She has a son and cousin who
served in the military and said she's seen firsthand how the combat
experience changes people. She said the Army "betrayed" her
grandson by prosecuting him for actions that occurred under duress. In closing arguments Friday,
Leahy's civilian lawyer, Frank Spinner, argued his client went along with the
killings because he was dazed from a lack of sleep and numb from being in a
war zone for months. Col. Charles Hoge, a doctor and director of psychology
and neuroscience at the Army's Walter Reed Army Institute of Research,
testified Leahy was unable to reason properly because of the constant danger
of living and operating in a war zone and getting little sleep for months on
end. It was earlier reported that
Leahy and the other accused soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry
Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, had taken the
Iraqi militia members to the U.S. operating base in Baghdad for questioning.
But when they did not have evidence to hold them for attacking Leahy's unit,
they were told to release the prisoners. Leahy had told prosecutors
that a first sergeant in the unit told him and the others to kill the
prisoners in retribution for the attack, which claimed the lives of two U.S.
soldiers. Leahy was later reported to
have told Army investigators: "I'm ashamed of what I've done. ... When I
did it, I thought I was doing it for my family. Now I realize that I'm
hurting my family more now than if I wouldn't have done it." Leahy, wearing his dress
uniform, sat impassively as the verdicts were handed down by the foreman of
the jury made up of officers and enlisted personnel. "The army ruined
him," Hazel Leahy said. "He was between a rock and a hard
place." "You have a different
mind-set when you're a soldier. ... He was a good kid, and it shouldn't have
turned out this way." The Associated Press
contributed to this report. External link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-soldier-murder-trial-21feb21,0,7494413.story |